Mumbai: Homes to be cheaper in upcoming MHADA lottery

According to the in-charge of MHADA’s Mumbai board, 4,700 flats will be sold, and calculations revealed that cost of flats in Virar would be less than the last lucky draw; lottery tentatively scheduled for May 2015

Here is something to cheer you up in the New Year. Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) have estimated that in its next lottery, flats will be available at cheaper prices as compared to their last lottery.

MHADA calculated that homes in the Virar project would be available at a less price as compared to last year’s lottery. File pic

MHADA’s chief officer of the Konkan board, and current in-charge of the Mumbai board, Bhausaheb Dangade, told this paper that about 4,700 apartments would be sold in the lottery which is approximately scheduled for May 2015. These flats are almost ready and advertisements for the lottery will be out by next month.

Of the 4,700, nearly 3,000 will be in Virar, 1,000 in Mumbai and 700 in Thane. Dangade said the prices of the homes in Virar would be less than what they were in MHADA’s last lottery in 2013. “As of now, our estimates for the Virar homes tell us the prices will be less than last time’s lottery,” he said.

Sources said the reduced prices could be attributed to many reasons some of them included reduction in construction costs, which is a result of the fall in diesel prices and the changing market conditions, and the fact that MHADA had secured permissions for the entire set of 21 buildings in Virar in one go.

The latter means the cost for securing these permissions has already been accounted for in previous phases of sale, and need not be factored in this time. A senior MHADA official also said this trend could be expected in sales of units in Mumbai and Thane as well.

Last week, MHADA had a meeting regarding the lottery and, after an audit, it was decided that 4,700 residences could be offered to the common public in the lottery. Senior officials are also taking stock of homes that will be ready by the time the winners are picked.

This step has been taken to avoid making people wait for as long as two years after they have won the flat. “Many a time, we used to hold a lottery and people would have to wait after being picked as winners, because the flats were not ready by then. Hence, we decided to have the lottery only when the homes are ready,” explained the official.

While the exact locations of the Mumbai homes couldn’t be ascertained, the flats in Thane will most likely be in Manpada, and the ones in Virar shall be in Bolinj.